3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), generally creates a three-dimensional object by forming layers of material under computer control. Objects are produced using digital model data from a 3D model or another electronic data source such as an Additive Manufacturing File (AMF) file. Before printing a 3D model, it is generally examined for errors and processed by slicing software which converts the model into a series of thin layers and produces a code file containing instructions tailored to a specific type of 3D printer, with the 3D printer subsequently constructing a replica of the model in a layer by layer fashion. Polymers, resins and other curing and setting materials are often utilized in typical 3D printing processes.
Additive manufacturing of metal comprising objects generally involves specific steps and processes for sintering and fusion of the base material once deposited. In some applications, laser sintering techniques deposit discrete metal-comprising material and the deposits are sintered through heating with the laser. Other applications such as selective laser melting do not use sintering but rather completely melt a powder using a high-energy laser to create fully dense materials in a layer-wise method. Electron beam melting is a similar type of additive manufacturing technology for metal parts which manufactures parts by melting metal powder layer by layer with an electron beam in a high vacuum. These methods require generation of high local temperatures and further are fundamentally limited to a precision of the order of the size of the metal particles employed, generally about 20 micron.
It would be advantageous to provide a system and method which could be significantly lower that the melting temperatures of the underlying metal material. It would be additionally advantageous to provide a system and method offering precisions below the 20 micron limit of typical processes.
These and other objects, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become better understood with reference to the accompanying description and claims.